Megaworld to expand Eastwood City

MANILA, Philippines - Megaworld Corp., the flagship property unit of tycoon Andrew L. Tan, intends to expand Eastwood City in Libis as it acquires more property nearby.

Kingson Sian, president of Tan’s Alliance Global Group Inc. and executive director of Megaworld, said there is still plenty of land around Eastwood City which the property giant is looking to acquire in the coming years.

“As we grow, there’s opportunity for us to acquire around,” Sian said.

Aside from being Megaworld’s first township development in the Philippines, Eastwood City is also regarded as the country’s first cyberpark.

“Eastwood started 11, 12 hectares only. Now, it is already 18 hectares so it grew and grew,” Sian said.

Megaworld in May this year announced that it is expanding the Philippines’ first cyberpark by 1.5 hectares to 18.5 hectares to cater to the robust demand for additional office, residential and commercial space in the township.

Of the existing 18.5-hectare Eastwood City, Sian said only about two hectares are still undeveloped at present.

Majority of that two-hectare area, however, have ongoing projects and soon-to-rise towers, he said.

“We are still developing Eastwood. We acquired it in 1996 and up to now we’re still developing it. It is still not finished,” Sian said.

“So development will continue. As you develop it, as it becomes more mature, it becomes more attractive as a live-work-play community,” he added.

Megaworld started developing the former textile mills factory in 1999 and transformed it into what is now Eastwood City, one of Megaworld’s most successful townships that pioneered the live-work-play lifestyle concept in the Philippines.

The township is home to corporate office buildings, residential condominium towers, commercial and retail establishments, Megaworld lifestyle malls namely Eastwood Mall, Citywalk 1 & 2 and Cyber & Fashion Mall, and the Eastwood Richmonde Hotel.

Under its current 1.5-hectare expansion program, Megaworld plans to put up at least three mixed-use towers that would offer an additional 100,000 square meters (sqm) of office space, 9,000 sqm of additional commercial space and 600 residential units that could generate P4 billion to P5 billion in sales.